![]() ![]() Asked to compare the two, she offers a view that black people in Britain don't "have the same spirit African Americans have for a number of reasons. Angelou has visited the UK on many occasions, but she doesn't pretend to understand the intricacies of its society. The landscape is different here in all sorts of ways. She composed a poem, On the Pulse of Morning, and read it at Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration. She has the Obama connection, but she also had a Clinton connection. Soldiers of the civil rights movement especially retain an ability to speak to white and black Americans with some chance of a hearing, Angelou in particular. "Calm now, but not then, Angelou told reporters: "I thought my heart would burst." "She talked for about 10 minutes about my work and its impact on her and her husband for the past 20 years," she says. Millions of viewers of the US channel Black Entertainment Television (BET) saw the author – recipient of three Grammys, a Pulitzer nomination and 30 honorary degrees – prepare to receive more yet recognition a BET Honors award. When next they met, Angelou's shock was palpable. She said: 'I have only one regret – that I didn't come over and hug your neck.'" I got a letter from her in her own handwriting. I know that's a gaffe because no one leaves the building before the president so I wrote and apologised. The president and his party were there, but I had to leave early. "I wrote her a note a few months ago because I was in a gathering. More recently, her presidential link has been via the first lady, Michelle Obama. Obama quoted her, saying: " History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." ![]() In 2010, she was named at the White House as one of 15 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honour. They'll pull the sheets off."Īngelou, still active despite chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), has been keen to fete Obama, and he has been equally keen to return the favour. "But in the next few months, as we wind up to the double campaign, I tell you we are going to see some nastiness, some vulgarity, I think. "I think we are going to see a number of people who say: 'I have no racial prejudice in my heart, not in my conversation,'" Angelou says. But between now and November, it's going to get nasty. Don't worry about Barack Obama, says the chronicler of black history. This year, if it progresses as Angelou expects, will exacerbate the pattern, bringing a momentous high, but not before some sickening lows. Who would share that anniversary with the assassination of her friend, Martin Luther King? Consider that each year, her birthday, 4 April, brings with it both joy and painful memories. Think of her triumphs articulating the struggle of African Americans through the civil rights era. Think of the literature fashioned from a harsh and tragic upbringing in racially segregated Missouri and Arkansas: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Wouldn't Take Nothing for my Journey Now. T here has always been something bittersweet about the life experience of Maya Angelou.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |